Minerals Council of Australia keen to help Indian mining community

KOLKATA: Australia’s top miners’ body has said it is keen to help the beleaguered Indian mining community adopt sustainable mining practices. The promise of help comes when the industry is going through a rough patch following a crackdown on illegal mining in states like Karnataka and Goa. Given Australia’s long history of mining and commitment to sustainable mining makes it an ideal partner for Indian miners interested in learning from them.

“Australian companies have been doing sustainable mining for many years now. Environment and rehabilitation issues are beginning to gain significance in India too. We are ready to share our learnings and best practices with members of the Indian mining community,” Melanie Stutsel, director- health, safety, environment and community policy at Minerals Council of Australia. The latter represents Australia’s exploration, mining and mineral processing industry in its contribution to sustainable development.

Stutsel is meeting top officials at the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), Mining, Geological & Metrological Institute of India (MGMI) and the Planning Commission among others, besides attending a seminar on sustainable mining in Goa. She indicated that interest shown by the Indian mining bodies to learn from the Australian experience led to her visit.

Additionally, Australia’s International Mining for Development Centre is also interested in extending funds to the Indo–Pacific region, where India can be a partner, Stutsel said. This initiative, taken by the University of Western Australia and the University of Queensland in partnership with the Australian government is aimed at lifting quality of life in developing nations through sustainable use of mineral and energy resources. However, Indian companies would need to pre-qualify in terms of health, labour, safety and environment practices to avail of these resources.

The mining industry across the world is grappling with issues like forging sustainable long term relations with the communities displaced by mining activity. Since mining projects typically stretch over 30-50 years or even beyond, it is important to have proper environmental impact assessment of a project done and to invest in a long term relationship with the local community to ensure a balance between their needs and distribution of economic returns from the project, she added.